Fresh Faves: Batch 62

Our Fresh Faves are reviewed this week by Jim Craigen from AlternativeFriday.com. Although it was a bumper week for discovering new music, discovering anything about the artists who made it proved a lot harder. Time and again Jim found himself wishing bands would read our advice on How To Write A Band Biog…

Thirty excellent and varied tracks made it into the Listening Post at the weekend, and so thanks on behalf of all of us to everyone who voted for their five favourites. Sadly they couldn’t all make the Fresh Faves, but the eleven tracks that received the most votes make up quite an eclectic mix, ranging from grunge blues to a marching band via some awkward noises and a bit of 007.

Confused? Read on and listen to the tunes…

ANNA CORCORAN – Sailed Away

Anna Corcoran is a singer songwriter from Liverpool, and her calm melodic sound is perfect for warm hazy summer nights… if we ever get any. Sailed Away could be pop, it could be folk, but it’s probably wrong to pigeonhole it, as it’s just sublime.

Bagel Project is the musical venture of London and Wales based Sula Bay, who confesses to make “awkward noises”, and while the track ‘Rob Is An Alcoholic’ is a great example of their dark ambient electro sound, the feel of it is comparable to a good title track for a James Bond film.

“Atmospheric folk with soaring vocals, soulful impassioned lyrics, and a penchant for strange chords set to self-made time signatures” is a damn sight better description of this track than I could have come up with! Bill Orrick certainly has great vocals, and with just an acoustic guitar, they both complement each other with melodic ease.

This first single by Ascot three-piece Febueder is an excellent piece of experimental lo-fi, with excellent bass and unique vocals leading the way. It will be track one on their forthcoming 4-track EP Soap Carv and their band name is pronounced ‘Fuh-buew-duh’. “We are limited to sounds that we have” they say “so that’s why we sound like this. We are squeezing that last succulent drop out of Drum, Bass and Guitar. With an added sample it’s sweet my friend. It’s sweet.” They’re not wrong.

A slightly distorted vocal, great blues rock guitar, and heavy bass make Bicycle something that Jack White would surely have been proud to create. Forgery Lit are not from Detroit however, but are a three-piece band from Bristol, and their excellent combination of blues and grunge rock sound like they should be seen live too.

The Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band describe themselves as a “raggle taggle bunch of musicians from Liverpool”, and their large number are made up of members of (take a deep breath before continuing) – Stealing Sheep, Barberos, a.P.A.t.T., King Twit, The Kazimier Krunk Band, The Wizards of Twiddly, The Weave, Dead Hedge Trio, The Long Finger Bandits, Sing For Your Supper, White Blacula, plus various other people who join them from time to time!

They first got together in 2011, and sound like they’d be great fun live, as their appearances range from “guerrilla busking manoeuvres” all the way to making eight appearances at Festival no.6 last summer when leading the parade every night.

Tend to Forget is a superbly mellow rock track, with laid back vocals and deep guitar work that excel to create four and a half minutes of musical enjoyment. The band are from Brixton, but alas offer no other information on themselves. Unless @hoatzin is their Twitter account, in which case they are also a retired, married, amateur naturalist and armchair traveller from the US?

This epic 7-minute track from multi-talented musician, producer, and video maker Owen Duff, has numerous chapters, all of which join to create an almost anthemic piece of music. It starts as a pop track with great drumming and vocals, before moving to an electro phase, maintaining the undercurrent of great drums but becoming more atmospheric as it progresses.

Fishing for Bread is a delightful piece of Scottish folk, with the accordion taking the lead as far as the instruments go. Aside from finding the video however, I’ve struggled to find out anything about St Kilda Mailboat beyond the fact that band members Claire Gorman and Mark Urban are from Dundee and describe their music as “Post Apocalyptic Skiffle”.

This artist has seemingly decided to be an enigma, as aside from knowing he/they are from Cardiff, there appears to be little else. The track itself is hard to pin down, although I could imagine the singer shoegazing while performing it, but either way it’s a wonderfully quirky eight minutes of music.

The Mouth of Ghosts are longstanding favourites here at Fresh On The Net and they at least appear not to hold back on information. Regular readers may remember they are a 5-piece London band who create a “fusion of alternative rock and trip-hop, with plenty of atmosphere and tension”. While Right on time has a low key introduction, the volume rises as it progresses to become a wonderfully haunting track with a strong melody.

FROM TOM: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t made the Fresh Faves you’re welcome to re-submit it again. But if you have been a Fresh Fave in recent weeks could you possibly hold back for at least six weeks before sending us another one. If you keep sending us great tracks every week it leaves less room for new names who haven’t had a chance yet…

Jim Craigen

I’m a St. Albans based music enthusiast and relatively tall person. I’ve a fairly eclectic taste, but exploring new music from independent and emerging artists is something I especially enjoy, which is how I came across Fresh on the Net in the first place.
Additionally I'm a keen consumer of radio and vinyl, and am in charge of beards (& music) at Alternative Friday, while I can also be found sharing more great new music on Twitter, Spotify, and Soundcloud.

So that’s what you look like! Big Jim, your goin to Top Gun!
Especially Loving The Bagel projects quirky genius this week.
Used to go shopping in Brixton With my Mum every weekend so happy to provide a geographical biog for Hoatzin if you like ;-) Ape Love to all the Fresh Faves. Dan B-) xo